Sir, – In "Dún Laoghaire council to debate property tax cut" (September 14th), please note that the views expressed in the quotation attributed to Cllr John Bailey, leader of Fine Gael on Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, in the following extract are misleading and erroneous: "Fine Gael councillor John Bailey, who tabled a plan to reduce the number of motions in the OPP (organisation, procedure and protocol) meeting, criticised councillors who walked out of the meeting. 'They should have sat down and discussed it, instead of walking out in the last meeting. This is a way of seeing how we can improve,' he said."
We totally refute the suggestion by Mr Bailey that we did not wish to discuss his undemocratic proposals aimed at “gagging” the Opposition and stifling debate.
The Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil county councillors present, despite many requests to do so, refused to explain the reasons behind their proposals, remained silent and pushed the matter to a vote. The cathaoirleach refused requests from the Opposition to facilitate a debate on this issue.
It was at this stage, without an opportunity to debate matters, that all the Opposition county councillors left the meeting. – Yours, etc,
Cllr KARL GILL.
Cllr MELISA HALPIN,
People Before
Profit Alliance;
Cllr MICHAEL MERRIGAN,
Independent;
Cllr PETER O’BRIEN,
Cllr DENIS
O’CALLAGHAN,
Labour;
Cllr SEAMAS O’NEILL,
Independent;
Dún Laoghaire Rathdown
County Council,
County Hall,
Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.